Greetings From the Dead
by samcarter34
Summary: Davina swore she'd find a way to bring Kol Mikaelson back, and she meant it. Even if it means entering the realm of the Ancestors and facing them in their own domain. Slight warning for a couple instances of profanity.


**So, this started out as a oneshot of Davina's tripped to the Ancestors with having more Ancestors. I know there's scheduling and budget stuff, but it still kind of seems like a wasted opportunity. Anyway, the fic kind of evolved from there. So, anyway, enjoy.**

* * *

Davina woke with a disturbingly familiar feeling of dread. She felt cold, like the sun had never touched her face. She stood up and stared at her reflection in the mirror She knew this place, she remembered. The Ancestors had thrown her in here, screamed at her day and night for what felt like forever. She remembered the look on her mother's face as the Ancestors named over and over again the people killed during Marcel's reign, forced her to see their faces. But there was something different this time though; she didn't just feel cold, she felt tired, empty. Horror filled her eyes as she realized the truth of it, so simple yet so easily overlooked. Her power was linked to Josh's, tethering her to life. She had no magic here. She suddenly felt very small, weak. What had she been thinking? She couldn't do this! She couldn't…

She shook her head, banishing the thoughts from her mind. She came here for a reason. Rebekah on the run from a horde of vampires, Klaus, Elijah and Freya dealing with yet another family issue, no one was trying to save Kol. She was his only chance, so she set off to find him, doing the best to ignore the ghostly image of her physical body behind her.

* * *

She had no idea where Kol would be, so she decided to start with the place they'd first met. She knew she had to be careful though; a shunned witch in the holy realm of the Ancestors would not be treated well. She knew she had to avoid the graveyards at all costs, but the graveyard was where Kol's hideout was. That was the place where the two had spent the most time; it was also the one place where she ever remembered Kol being truly relaxed. What if she couldn't find him in the city? What if he'd managed to sneak past the Ancestors and enter his sanctuary? What if she couldn't find him? Could she risk…?

A figure burst out of the shadow and grabbed her, pulling her into the alleyway. Davina struggled, concentrating all her might on summoning some vestige of magic. She couldn't fall here. She wouldn't fall here!

"Easy now. Easy now! Don't take off my head," The figure, clearly a man, said.

That the man was asking that she not attack him startled her enough to look up at him. A grown man of maybe twenty look at her, smiling with an incredulous look in his eye. Recognition began to spark within her. She knew that face, she'd seen once before in a picture from 1914.

"K-Kol?" She asked, the shock and confusion in her voice obvious even to her.

"Come on," He said, a smile wide on his face, "You don't recognize this roguish grin? I guess my true face is just too handsome," The cocky tone in his voice unmistakable.

Davina found herself chuckling a bit, "You certainly _sound_ like Kol Mikaelson."

"Oh Davina Claire," He said, embracing her, "You are a sight for bleary and battered eyes," He released, his expression abruptly very serious, "You're also stark raving mad! Do you have any idea what will happen to you if the Ancestors catch you here?"

Suddenly the world changed. The darkness that was once concealing melded to them, revealing them to the world. The lights began to flicker; the wind began to howl like a savage beast.

"Bloody hell," Kol muttered, "Doesn't he ever give up?" He turned to her, "We need to get out of here. Now."

* * *

The two of them fled quickly, before ducking into a facsimile of Rousseau's bar at Kol's behest.

The bar looked different, like it belonged to an earlier decade than the one she knew.

Kol walked right up to the bar, poured himself a glass, and downed it in one swig.

"Kol, what's going on?" Davina asked.

"Bottom-line," He said, downing another glass, "You don't belong here, in the slightest. I've already got people pissed at me, and now a bunch are going to be coming for you. Thankfully for us," another glass, "The Ancestors aren't really the pub-crawling type. We should be safe here…for now. At least until we figure out how to get you back."

He looked at her with such longing in his eyes. He moved forward and kissed her…until she pushed back.

"Ah," he said stoically, "You preferred the other face. His face."

"No," Davina said quickly, suddenly remembering a stupid remark she made about the two when looking at that picture, "It's just-I know it's you. But, you…you're different and I'm adjusting."

Kol nodded and moved in to hug her.

"Okay…okay. Remember our last night together, when we danced. Remember the song that played."

Slowly the two of them began swaying back and forth as the sound of music began to fill the air, as if brought forth solely by their memories.

"I've missed you," Davina said quietly, "God I've missed you."

"And I you," Kol replied.

The two of them separated as the music returned to their memory.

"And for the record," Davina said, "I like this face just fine."

Kol grinned at that, however, as he did, the light changed. Suddenly Kol's face was thrown into sharp relief, and it was all Davina could do not to gasp in shock and horror. Two great bruises lay under his eyes, what looked to be healing cuts were on his cheeks, his forehead. Even a couple of his teeth seemed chipped.

"Kol…what happened to you?"

"It's-" He started to respond, but before he could, the lights began to flicker again. The music of their song began to play again, but it was different, played in a more menacing key. The darkness outside turned to pure light, with a great shadow in its center, walking forward.

"No," Kol whispered, before pulling Davina with him as he ran and dove under the bar.

Davina began to ask what was going on, only for Kol to place his hand over her mouth, silencing her.

The doors blew opened, and Davina heard footsteps as someone entered. She glanced at Kol and felt herself tense up at the look of sheer and utter fear in his eyes.

Footsteps echoed through the empty bar as the figure walked around, searching. Davina glanced at a mirror on the wall and her eyes widened in shock. She knew that face. Kol Mikaelson may have been next to her, but that face, that face was the one she'd known.

Kaleb Westphall stood in place, looking. Rage etched into every feature of his face. Slowly, he turned to the bar and began to walk towards it.

Davina didn't know what to do, her magic was spent linking her to life, she couldn't fight. Maybe Kol?

The sound of whispers began to fill the air, hundreds, thousands, building on each so that the noise was deafening. Davina moved her hands to her ears, trying to block out the sound, the ghost of memories lashed out from her mind, pulling her back to the place she'd been the last time.

Slowly, the whispering died down, until the silence returned, deafening too, in its own way.

Kaleb stared at the bar for a few moments, before turning and leaving.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Davina whispered, slowly rising after recovering, and finally allowing herself to believe that he'd gone.

"The others called him off for something. Probably something going down in the land of the living."

"Why was he here? What? I don't understand,"

Kol let out a hollow laugh, "Yes, why would Kaleb have any reason to be angry with me? It's not as if I possessed him for nearly a year, and then got us both killed." Kol walked over to the bar, poured another glass and downed in.

"That wasn't your fault," Davina said, scared for an entirely different reason than before, "Finn killed you."

"Yeah, and why'd be do that, hmm? Maybe because I betrayed our mother, the woman who saved me from oblivion and gave me my birthright back? Or maybe because I chose to side with those good for nothing, backstabbing, promise breaking little cunts I'm forced to call my siblings!" Kol hollered up at the ceiling.

"Kol don't! He'll come back,"

"What do I care?" He bellowed, turning to face her, "I'm already in Hell, what more can they do to me? Behold!" He said, making a dramatic gesture to the world around him, "The great realm of the Ancestors! Witch Heaven! A place filled to the brim with food, drink, and all sorts of pleasures. A place filled with endless light, and boundless joy. Unless of course," He looked to her, madness dancing in his eyes, "you managed to get onto the covens' naughty list. Then it's a shadowy hellhole where you spend every day trying to remember that there ever was such a thing as the warmth of the sun. A place where food rots in your mouth and drink," Kol grabbed another glass and downed it, "Turns to ash. Where it's eternally cold and miserable. This is why the covens consecrate all witches, good or bad. This is why everyone gets to come here. The place is paradise and perdition both, and guess which one little old me got stuck in?"

"Kol,"

"Every second feels like an eternity," Kol said, shaking, his voice breaking, "Every breath feels like I'm inhaling ice. And that…wanker," Kol pointed to the door that Kaleb had left through, "Never stops hunting me. And I can't even fight back!"

Davina just stared at him, afraid to make a move. There was a deranged look in his eyes, as if his mind was breaking.

"The power that goes to the Ancestors is the power that gets consecrated, but I didn't get consecrated. Kaleb did. Kaleb's power is what came here; I just hitched a ride with his soul. But our souls walk different paths now, and the power went with him. So once again I have no magic, except this time I don't have any vampiric abilities either. I am a powerless Mikaelson. Not an enviable fate. You wanted to know how I got these," He said, pointing to the bruises," Kaleb did that. He found me, put some hex on me that paralyzed me. And then he just started laying in to me. He only stopped when there was a call for the Ancestors to gather in the graveyard. Something about a witch getting shunned."

As he said that, he looked at Davina, and seemed to realize how crazy he'd been acting. He stumbled backwards to the bar, and slid down, looking tired, and utterly defeated.

"I thought being trapped on the Other Side was the worst fate imaginable, but this? This is Hell, Davina Claire. The founders of the Covens intended to make damn sure that anyone who crossed a line would pay for it for eternity, and well, name one person who isn't related to me who's crossed more lines than me. I'm trapped here, while the family whose love I wanted does what? Play dress up with a baby and eye-fuck a backwater hybrid bitch who's already married? Do they even remember me!?" He screamed, "Do they even remember me?" He asked again, quietly

Davina walked over to him, and sat beside him, "I think I can get you out," She said softly. It was all she could say.

He looked at her, for a brief moment, elation and hope were present in his eyes, before suspicions overwhelmed them.

"How? Elijah and Bekah tricked you into using your Ancestral gift to bring back mother, and the Harvest doesn't happen for another three centuries."

"This spell's from out of town," She said, handing him the spell Aya had given her.

Kol read it, while Davina watched his face carefully, every change in expression that came.

"It's a fake," Kol said tonelessly, handing it back to her.

"You're lying, I saw the look on your face. It's real."

"It's a bomb waiting to go off in your face. Where did you get that? I haven't seen anything like it since…the Strix coven. Darling, for the love of all that could still be considered holy tell me you haven't made a deal with them!"

"I can save you, you want that, don't you?"

"Of course, but do you have any idea what's going to happen to you? Dark magic is an insidious thing, it will creep inside you, and once it gets in, it never lets go."

"I'll handle it,"

"Those same words are uttered by every witch that plays with fire, everyone single one of them gets burned. Playing with the kind of magic the Strix like use…you'll be getting the fourth degree."

"I'll figure out a way to handle it, and you just told me the spell works."

"So you'll do it either way," Kol finished, "Fine, then let's figure out how to get you back. Where did you enter from?"

"The Attic room at St. Anne's,"

* * *

They made their way back slowly, or was it quickly? Time seemed so different here. They used old hidden passageways from the prohibition days, ducking in through back alleys. The shadows seemed to move with them, following them like wraiths, and it was so cold. The first time she'd been resurrected, she'd promised herself she'd never feel this cold again, but here she was.

"Are you alright love?" Kol asked

"Y-yeah," she replied after a second, "It's just…I remember this cold, feeling like I'll never be warm again. How have you been able to sand it for so long?"

"I'm a Mikaelson," Kol said, trying to keep a straight face, "If there's one thing I know how to do, it's endure."

They walked up to the front of the church. It was almost over, Davina thought ecstatically, soon she'd be back, soon he'd be back, and everything would be righted.

Kol however, did not seem to share her optimism, "This was too easy. There's no way they didn't sense you entering their domain," He said as he pushed open the doors.

The church was not the gym Marcel had made, but was represented in its full glory, before the massacres and occupation by unnatural entities had deprived it of its splendour.

And it was completely filled, every pew, every stand, to the brim with Ancestors.

"Greetings Davina," Bastianna said, smiling from the podium at the front, flanked by Monique and Abigail, "You've arrived just in time to answer for your misdeeds."

* * *

"Come forth," Bastianna ordered, her grandmotherly tone hiding the rage her face betrayed.

When neither she nor Kol moved, Bastianna extended her hand, and then pulled it back, sending them both flying forward. They dragged themselves to their feet, Kol looking at her with a murderous expression.

"Now my dear, turn and meet your accusers."

Slowly, Davina turned, and saw the faces of the Ancestors. In the front row were Katie, Kara, Kaleb, Jane-Anne, Raphael, Agnes, and…"mom?" Davina said quietly, tears threatening to spill.

"You were shunned," Monique said from behind her, "You have no family, you have no mother."

"What's the point of all this?" Kol said, eyeing Bastianna.

"The point, Mister Mikaelson is that she has committed crimes against the covens, of which only the most recent is intruding into our realm. And now, she will pay for them. Forever."

"Like Hell she will," he yelled

Before Bastianna could respond, a blinding light filled the room, and when it departed, the Ancestors were gone.

"What?"

"Come on," Ariane said, from the stairs, "I cannot hold them back for long."

* * *

"Davina? Davina!" Josh yelled as she began jerking and spasming, "Come on Davina!"

* * *

The three of them ran, but it seemed as if the world itself has woken and rallied against them. The stairs seemed to stretch on forever, and more than once an Ancestor appeared before them, and Ariane had to intercede on their behalf. The deafening whispers had returned, trying to drown out thought and reason itself.

"You're weakening girl," Kara Nguyen sneered as attacked Ariane's barrier.

Ariane screamed out a work in a language that had not been uttered in centuries, and Kara screamed and to fly back, fading away.

"She's right," Kol said, "You can't keep this up for much longer.

"I can keep it up long enough," She said, before beginning to chant another spell.

Another explosion of light came forth, and the whispers died. The world seemed to right itself, and they managed to make it up to the Attic room…only to find Monique and Abigail standing just outside the circle of salt.

"What kept you?"

* * *

Ariane was quite the witch, Kol had to admit, being able to hold off two Harvest Girls for so long. However, holding off the rabble had already drained her, and Kol had a feeling this was just the start of the A-game the Ancestors were willing to bring.

"Davina, she needs your help,"

"I have no magic!" Davina yelled over a boom of thunder as Abigail summoned a miniature hurricane above her.

"Yes you do!" Kol pointed to her physical body, before ducking from one of the shadow tentacles Monique had summoned.

"If I sever my link to Josh, I won't have a way back!"

"You'll find another way!" Ariane interjected, deflecting bolts of lightning from the storm, "You're a Sister now! We have our own ways!'

Monique shot another tentacle at Davina, Ariane was able to block it, but at the same time Abigail sent a gust of wind that sent her flying.

* * *

"Okay this is seriously not what I signed up for!" Josh yelled. The entire room was shaking, the glass has shattered, and the candles were shooting out fire that was getting uncomfortably close to the ceiling.

Suddenly, a force pulsed out from Davina's hand, sending Josh flying backward.

"Davina?" Josh whispered, as her body began floating in the air.

* * *

"Motus!" Davina screamed and Monique, not expecting Davina to enter the fight, was thrown back, vanishing. However, she reappeared moments later beside Abigail, albeit with a dishevelled look on her face.

Davina prepared to cast another spell when the sound of a someone falling behind her caused her to turn, and searing pain struck her back.

* * *

Josh watched helpless as what looked like burn marks began to appear on Davina's neck and back.

* * *

Davina was able to turn enough to see Genevieve and Kaleb behind her. Kaleb has Kol pinned to a wall, while Genevieve zeroed in on Davina.

"You really shouldn't have come here Davina,"

"You don't have to do this Genevieve, you can just let us go,"

"No I can't."

Genevieve prepared to attack when a third explosion of light erupted, banishing the Ancestors.

Davina looked to Ariane, who was kneeling on the floor, panting.

"I…can't…do that again," She said.

"You need to get out of here now," Kol said, "Every time she does that, they stay gone for less time. At this rate, they'll be back any second."

Ariane struggled to her feet, "Davina, join hands with me"

"I don't know what spell to do," Davina said as she joined with Ariane

"Just relax, let me do the spell. You just need to focus on the reason why you want to live. Why do you want to return to the land of the living? Focus on that, let it consume you."

Davina looked to Kol, then over to the spectral image of Josh. She imagined Marcel, and she thought of Tim, even of Monique…and her mom. She'd lost too many people she cared about, one way or another; she would not lose anyone else, not when she could save them.

"I'll save you," Davina whispered, "I'll save you,"

"Going somewhere," The voice that was both so familiar and utterly alien taunted as Kaleb appeared again.

"You are seriously beginning to test my patience darling!" Kol snarled, lunging for Kaleb.

Kaleb hit him with a paralysis hex, Davina forgotten in his rage and the man who literally stole his life.

"I think it's time you and I pick up where we left off, eh _darling?_ "

"KOL!" Davina screamed, beginning to go towards him.

"Do not break the circle!" Ariane yelled, "You cannot help him now, and you will be useless to him stuck here."

"Go Davina," Kol whispered, his body otherwise immobile as Kaleb beat into it, "Go before he remembers why he's actually here…And Davina,"

The world began to fade into smoke and shadows, all else fading, save his voice.

"When the time comes for you to pay up, don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

Davina eyes snapped open, and she looked around. The attic room was a mess. It looked as if a tornado had ransacked it.

"D-Davina?" Josh asked timidly, removing himself from the rubble, "Are you okay."

Davina nodded slowly, her whole body shaking, "A-are you?"

"Yeah, it was a little touchy for a moment there, what the hell happened?"

Davina looked over to the spell that was still in her hand "I found what I needed."


End file.
